


Letters of Deception and Death

by AbsolXGuardian



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: 1700s, 1780s, AC Forsaken, AC Rogue, AC Unity book, AC3, Gen, Letters, Shay post Rogue, Sympathetic Templars, ac unity, canon complaint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsolXGuardian/pseuds/AbsolXGuardian
Summary: 1776: Shay Patrick Cormac kills Charles Dorian.1788: Arno Dorian is unconcerned with the identity of his biological father's killer.Two letters from Shay, one to Arno and the second to Grand Master de la Serre explain this discrepancy.





	Letters of Deception and Death

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a free-write for English class. I just had to use certain words for the grade. So if it sounds a bit weird in a few points, that's why.

November 20th, 1781

To young Master Dorian,

I must apologize for writing to you in English. While my spoken French is acceptable, I remain unable to understand your people’s nebulous spelling rules. Perhaps you can convince your tutors that translating this letter is a good way to practice your English and save you from having to practice on verbose texts instead.

I have found your father’s killer and avenged his death. My suspicion that it was some avaricious mercenary that did M. Dorian in was proved incorrect. It was a noble, acting as a representative for the Holy Roman Empire at Versailles. I have obtained his dispatch records from the court to corroborate my suspicions. Wilhelm von Homburg, an impetuous second son, cut off from his family’s finances because of his spendthrift habits, believed that by killing your father he could receive a reward from the Americans that could cover his gambling debts. M. Dorian advocatedagainst the French alliance, but Ambassador Franklin did not sanction your father’s murder. When Wilhelm came to claim the reward, Franklin, a close friend of mine, simply believed the man to be mad. I am confident that no one else abettedhim in carrying out the deed.

Bolden and I tracked Wilhelm to a tavern in Prague, where he sought to fulfill his carnal desires. The man was complacent, not thinking any man would seek revenge for a murder committed five years ago or even that thugs and debtors sought his head for his escapades. His body was deposited in Vltava River. The authorities will not investigate further, and I assume the Von Homburgs will be happy to be done with their errant son.

Your obedient servant,

          Shay Patrick Cormac

Postscript: To save on post and paper, I’ve written a letter to M. de la Serre on the back of this page. But I’m not gullible enough to assume that a bright, yet curious boy such as yourself would refrain from reading this private message. I’ve taken care to encrypt the letter, as you can see. Please give this letter to de la Serre rather than attempt the impossible task of decrypting it without the key.

_[On the back of the page is a seemingly random series of numbers. When decrypted, the message is as follows:]_

Grand Master Francois de la Serre,

I apologize for the security risk of enclosing this message in the letter to your ward, but for reasons I will elaborate on, I am en route to London and couldn’t afford to post two separate letters. Hopefully, the encryption is enough to mollify you.

To start, the story of Willhelm is an embellished account of a traitorous templar I dispatched in Prague. It should be enough to assuage young Arno’s obsession with finding his father’s killer and save both our Order and innocent men from allegationsArno might connect. This should remove any chance of animosity towards our Order from Arno. I may not agree with your hesitance to introduce Arno to the Templars, but I will respect it. Therefore I didn’t frame an Assassin. And perhaps it is a good idea. Such a personal grudge against the Brotherhood could hinder our dreamed of reconciliation between the two orders. Arno’s experiences are analogous to that of Grand Master Kenway's, and we both know of Haytham’s beliefs, or at least the ones he used to hold.

And on the topic of Haytham, if you have not already been informed, he was murdered at the hands of his own son, the Mohawk Assassin who has been systematically dismantling the American Rite. With her brother’s death, Mlle. Jennifer Scott’s ownership of the Kenway mansion is now tenuous at best. I will travel to London to inform Mlle. Scott of her brother’s death and to entreat the Carrolls to give their unequivocalpermission for Scott to remain in residence and in control of the Kenway estate, free from our war. The Kenway accounts have enough funds to allow Scott to live out the rest of her life in a frugallifestyle. She does not require any charity from us, even if she deserves it. Grand Master Strauss has not given me leave, but we have come to a tacitagreement that he will not complain if Bolden remains to continue our efforts. I also wish to speak with Scott on personal matters. Haytham had been in correspondence with her, and I hope we can remember my old friend together. She holds animositytowards both orders and our war, but I have a feeling she may be amenable to our views, at least enough for good conversation.

After ensuring Scott’s safety, I will travel to Canada to rally our forces there. The war has broken the connection between the two rites and our Canadian forces seem to have avoided most of the Assassins’ efforts. Charles Lee has de facto assumed the position of Grand Master. Lee and I have always had a rivalry, and I’ve known him as an emotional and rash man, unfit for true leadership. May he hopefully prove me wrong, but I suspect if I arrive alone he will rebuffmy offer of assistance out of pride. With the Canadian forces, I do not plan to demand he waivehis position as Grand Master. I do not desire civil war or leadership. But if I provide more than myself to the American Rite I will be able to command more respect and hopefully bring the American situation back under our control.

May the Father of Understanding guide you,

               The Black Cross

**Author's Note:**

> I hope Shay sounded in character. It was really had because it's been decades since Rogue and Shay has matured a lot. He's also writing a formal letter, so he would sound differently. 
> 
> I really like the idea of Shay becoming the first Black Cross and I feel like Shay leaving for Europe after Rogue is the best explanation for why he isn't in AC3. Bolden isn't any character who has appeared before, he's just an ancestor to the Bolden Black Crosses we do know about.


End file.
